The Anna Chronicles: Desperate
by Xenexian
Summary: "Please," I pleaded, cringing away from her in the darkness. "Please don't do this," I whispered again. A cruel laugh interrupted me as she sunk her fangs into my wrist. This was it - I was dying. MY OWN STUFF! R&R.
1. September 2011

**A/N:**** So hey again! As you all know, I'm taking part in this year's NaNoWriMo and many people have asked if they can read it UNEDITED. Can you believe it? So I told them that I'd post it up on here for them to read! If you spot any spelling/grammar issues, please PM me! Give me honest reviews please, because I need to know that it's not all babble!**

**Disclaimer:**** My vampires belong to ME! Regardless of the fact that three of them are named after Twilight characters (apparently; I started planning out my characters wayy before I ever read Twilight), Edward, Jacob and Jasper belong to me as well as everyone else in here! Also, PLEASE don't steal my plot! Thanks!**

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**Preface**

September 2011

I KNOW my mistake now that I've made it. I have been backed into a corner. I never wanted to die in a corner, but there isn't much I can do about it now. Becca is drawing in her shallow breaths by my feet and I can see Elena's face is cut and smeared with violet blood, her perfect hair messed up. Edward is standing in the opposite corner to me, one hand outstretched as if he can stop the stake that is surely coming my way before it reaches my heart. He's alone now again, after all these years. Just him and Elena again. Maybe he'll find a replacement for each of us, the four-soon-to-be-five dead vampires from the Seathwaite Coven. Maybe he will forget about us. Maybe that would be better.

My attention shifts from my once-family to a distraught Freya in front of me. Her black hair is pulled into a messy tangle, held stiff by the blood dried in there. A gash under her right eye is bleeding heavily and she is crying. She doesn't want to do it, but she has to. I understand that now, finally, and I'm afraid. I'm not afraid for myself but for Edward and Elena. Edward is Royal now, but he doesn't know how to do the immense job I've laid before him. Elena has my most prized Powers, but how will she use them? Will she let them consume her like I did all those years ago? Maybe. Maybe not. I hope she learns to use them properly.

"I'm sorry, Anna. I'm so, so sorry. But Alexa's vision, it's... It was all-consuming. I don't want you to die and I don't want to die and I _really _don't want to kill you but we have to die. You understand that, don't you?" Freya says in a shaky voice. Dark red tears are trekking down her cheeks slowly.

"I understand, Freya. The Prophecy includes us all. Matt, Becca, me, you - we're the ones who have to die." I answer in a calm, level voice that shocks me aswell as the others. I hear Becca take in one, drawn out breath and then the blonde hair that had once been so well cared for shrinks into her skull, her skin clinging to her bones and her blue eyes turning a cloudy dark red; she looks like a skeleton.

"I'm afraid of this, Anna. I don't want to die. I don't want you to die. I didn't want Jasper or Jacob or Allyana or Alexa or Mullen to die either."

"Neither did I, but they're gone now, and so are my parents and your parents and Arutha. And soon, we'll be gone aswell. There's no need to be scared, Freya. We're the good ones, you and I, together facing Becca and her evil minions." She laughs just a little, very shakily, at this term. She then sighs deeply and pulls the intricate stake out of Becca's heart and hands it to me and she pulls out her own. I wipe the violet blood off it with my shirt and hold it ready in my hand; it feels familiar and reminds me of my training with Arutha three years ago. Freya holds her own uncertainly - it has been hundreds of years since she first learned to do this - and I smile at her.

"On the count of-" I begin, but she interrupts.

"Can I go first?" she asks in a small voice. I nod.

"On the count of three, then. One. Two." In the slightest of pause between number two and three, I look down at the stake poised over my heart and think. I think about everything I've gained, everything I've lost and everything that I'm sure as hell going to lose. I have to be strong, but I'm losing my nerve. This needs to be over before I stop and run.

"Three."

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	2. Bitter Greetings

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**A/N:**** So hey again! Sorry, Rain Dove, I know I said that I'd post chapter 1 up AFTER I'd found a betareader, but I changed my mind XD. As per usual, if you see any misttakes, please PM me! Thanks!**

_**Major shoutouts to: Rain Dove for reviewing and putting me on alerts, thetimelessnight for putting me on alerts, ninja-marshmellows-r-attacking for being generally awesome and Nicci Watson for giving me the inspiration to write! I luffs you all!**_

**Disclaimer:**** I own EVERYTHING in here (except for the ideas that vampires exist, and I think they stem from folklore :D)**

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Bitter Greetings

Earlier, it had been hot in my mother's tiny car, but I could now feel the temperature dropping steadily. I was already dreading life in Seathwaite with my father, David Taylor.

He and my mother, Rachel, had divorced almost nine years ago now, when I was five. They had met in a school contest of some sort in Germany. They dated for a few years, and then got married. But, when I was five years old, they split up, me and my mother going one way, and dad going the other.

But, now that I was fourteen, mom decided that it was time for me to go live with dad for a bit. Of course, this wasn't all mom's idea: the court that had given mom and dad joint custody decided that it was dad's turn to look after me. And now she was driving me all the way to Seathwaite, the rainiest part of Britain.

She had tried to make small talk all the way there, but I didn't listen. I couldn't listen.

"Please, Anneliese, talk to me," she said desperately, a last attempt. I looked at her.

"Sorry, I'm a bit preoccupied." I replied. Her eyes flickered between the road and my face.

"Look, I know you don't want to do this, but, trust me, you're going to thank me for it later." she said confidently.

I glared at her incredulously. "What makes you say that?" I asked, worried about her sanity.

"I just have a feeling about it, you know?" she answered. I raised my eyebrows at her.

"No, I really don't," I said. She clutched the steering wheel tightly, laughing silently. I shook my head, frowning a little; she _was_ insane.

But she drove on anyway, oblivious to my question of her state of mind, and the narrow roads of Cumbria flew past my window. The houses were small, and seemed too squashed together to be comfortable, and were made out of ordinary red bricks, with identical little red doors with brass doorknockers.

Within a few hours, we had stopped outside a small house with red-brown bricks, a red door that matched the ones of the other houses, and blinds up behind the windows. We were unable to see the roof, as a storm was blowing steadily towards us, and fog was blocking our vision. I sighed, and supposed I should get used to it. But that didn't mean I liked it.

Dad was waiting outside his car, and ushered us into the hall. He smiled at me kindly, and I smiled in return. Then mom chivvied me into the living room.

"David, do you think you could help us get Anneliese's bags out of the boot? They're too much for us alone," she asked politely. Dad nodded stiffly; I guess he was still pretty mad at mom. Or they just really hated each other.

Either way, they rubbed alongside each other for a while, getting my suitcases out of the boot of mom's little car, and then dumping them in the hall.

"I do hope you're staying for tea, Rachel?" Dad asked politely.

"Of course, David dear," she replied in honeyed tones. She took a seat next to me, while Dad took the one the other side of me. It felt just like when I was four, in the middle of my two arguing parents. I sighed.

"So, Anneliese, what's your favourite subject?" he questioned.

"Erm… English, I suppose. But I also like art, and my wood work." I answered, rooting through my school bag; it had all my old books from Exmouth and everything.

"And what options did you choose for your GCSEs?" he asked, curiosity layering his voice. Mom glared at him, disgusted, as if it was her job alone to ask me questions.

"Erm… wood work, Geography, History and Art." I said, pulling my options sheet from the bottom of the bag. I glanced over it, making sure it had all my information on it.

"What, not PE?"

"No,"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm crap at it." Dad tutted at my lack of enthusiasm in one of my main school subjects (and probably my use of language too), but said nothing more. I was more than a little relieved. He then turned to interrogate Mom for God knows how long. It was only when I pulled my old Geography book out to study from, that Mom snapped.

"For goodness's sake, David, do you work in MI5?" she exclaimed. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she slammed her tea cup on the table, continuing by narrowing her eyes. Dad had just opened his mouth to retort, when I looked at both of them.

"God, I had enough of this when I was five years old. Could you at least _act_ civilized?" I cried, standing up. They glared at each other fiercely, seemingly paying no attention to me at all. But I knew they were. Mom shook her head slightly, and a smile appeared on her face.

"You're right, of course, Anna." she said grinning up at me. Dad just sat there, still looking at Mom like she'd gone mad.

"Of course I'm right, I'm always right," I replied, and she smiled. But then she broke off, and sighed.

"I'd better get off, otherwise I'll hit traffic. Bye, Anna. Promise me you'll ring," she warned, as she stood up and hugged. I sighed aswell, and hugged her back. I was going to miss my Mom. Badly.

So she grabbed her handbag, turned back to Dad, who held his hand out for her to shake. She took it hesitantly, and then smiled at him.

"Thanks, David. I'll speak to you soon, yes?"

He raised his eyebrows once, and smiled at her slightly. Then she whirled around and left. Thunder rumbled overhead, so I barely heard her car engine roar to life. Then, with a flash of bright headlights, I watched her car disappear into the night. I sighed, yet again, and picked up my suitcases.

"Where are you going?" Dad asked, looking up from his newspaper.

I held my things up. "Unpacking my stuff," I answered, and he nodded, and then went back to reading the paper. I stood there for a minute, and then shook my head silently as I walked up the stairs.

My room was pretty easy to find, due to the massive sign on the door reading 'Anneliese's Room', and I groaned internally; I hated my full name. That was why I made everyone called me Anna. So I twisted the brass doorknob, and stepped into a fairly large room that was painted a pleasant lavender colour, with a bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers. There was also a desk on the far wall, below the window, with a computer sitting upon its laminated surface. I walked over to this vital piece of communication, and switched it on quickly. You could tell that it was new by how fast it loaded up. White it buzzed, I looked around the top of the house for a bit, finding the upstairs bathroom that appeared to be mine (dad was having the downstairs bathroom). I opened the door and walked in to examine it.

It was pretty long, a large bath with a showerhead hovering above it sitting in the top right corner, a toilet in the top left corner and a large basin underneath the window at the very top of the room. The walls were decorated with simple white tiles with a thin blue mosaic border. Tiny blue squares glittered on the floor tiling, balancing out the whiteness of the room. A small cupboard covered by mirrors stood on the wall by the door, and I walked to this first.

My reflection showed a tall girl with long golden blonde hair. I looked especially pale in the bright light of the strip lighting, and my chocolate brown eyes glittered, although you could only see one of them; the other was covered by my golden side fringe. I opened the cupboard door and put my bag of toiletries into it, and walked back into my new bedroom.

Hurrying over to the computer, I opened up my inbox, to find an email from Jasper.

Jasper had been my very best friend in Exmouth. He was pretty tall, just an inch taller than me, and I was around five foot six. He was pretty pale, like me, and he had bright blue eyes. His brown hair seemed to make his eyes glint a little stronger. I knew he had been sad to see me leave, as had all my other friends. But it was different with Jasper. He seemed to be _really_ upset.

'_Anna,__'_it read,

_How are you? My mom had a right go at your mom about sending you off like this, so if she__'__s a bit touchy, you can blame me. The triplets send you their love, and Kayla__'__s driving me mad by asking me for news of you, so will you send them an email to shut them up already? _

_Hope to see you soon,_

_Jasper _

I chuckled to myself at the thought of the triplets badgering Jasper.

Kayla, Alesha and Marti were three sisters, who we called the triplets because they always seemed to be joined at the hip and it honestly seemed like they could read each other's minds. It wouldn't really surprise me if they could. They were all about my height, and looked both alike and not alike at the same time. In essence, they all looked completely different, with Kayla and her long black curls, Alesha and her straight brown hair and Marti and her shoulder-length blonde curls. But there was some weird aura around them, and they all had the same pale skin, the same eye colour, which made everyone believe they were related.

The triplets and Jasper were my little niche at home, and I had left them behind. Knowing this made me just that little bit more nervous about going to the scary Ulverston Victoria High School. I didn't have any friends there, and if I had, I had forgotten them.

'_Oh, well. At least we wear the same uniform._' I thought, pulling out a pair of blue trousers, a blue blazer and a little blue tie with white diagonal stripes on it. A tiny red 'U' was printed onto the tie and the blazer. I hung them up carefully, along with the white shirts, and then settled to replying to Jasper.

_Jasper,_

_I was wondering why mom was so temperamental. It__'__s raining - already. I already said goodbye to the sun though. And, yeah, I__'__ll email Kayla now; I can just imagine her bombarding you. Speak to you soon,_

_Anna._

I clicked 'Send', and waited for the screen to refresh. Then I type in Kayla's email address, and thought hard about what to say to her.

_Kay, Leesh & Marti, _

_Hope you__'__re all well. Just got to Seathwaite, it__'__s raining already. Jasper__'__s mom had an argument with my mom, would you believe it? I found it so funny. I miss you all so much._

_See you soon,_

_Anna _

I clicked the 'Send' button again, and watched as the envelope icon flitted about the screen. I then switched my computer off, and carried on unpacking the last of my things. I was just organising my bookshelf, when Dad called.

"Anna, come get some dinner," he shouted up the stairs, and I sighed while I grabbed a book. Dinner didn't consist of much, some chips from the chip shop down the road. It was right outside my school, actually. I would have to remember that when I was allowed offsite at lunch times. But, until that time, I supposed I had better make myself a packed lunch.

I was relieved when it was finally acceptable for me to go to bed, and I escaped to my room as fast as I could. I was worried about tomorrow, when I would have to face my new school. I had covered nearly the whole curriculum for year nine.

I tried to control my panicking, and got ready for bed, brushing my teeth and washing my hair. I climbed under the warm covers, and switched off the lamp. I fell into an uneasy sleep.

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**_Thanks so much for reading this! Once again, reviews make my world go around and e-cookies shall be awarded to everyone that reviews! I shall try and update once per week, by the way!_**

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	3. Entering The Lair

**A/N:**** Okies! So, I'm going to post this chapter up TODAY, and then update every Friday after that! Weekly is good for you, yes? Yes? Good!**

_**Big shoutout to **_**LeilaParamore**_** and X-**_**Addict-Olivia-X**_** for reviewing and **_**X-Addict-Olivia-X **_**for fav'ing! I loves you all muchly :D**_

**LeilaParamore**** – The characters are the people who will be appearing throughout the seven books; They have violet blood because... Well, I don't know, actually! I thought it would be cool! Yes, her dad **_**is**_** a douche, and her mom's annoying, but that's the way Rachel and David want to be, I suppose. Finally, YES! She is in year ten, thank you so much for spotting my little mistake! I shall put it right ASAP!**

**X-Addict-Olivia-X ****- You're on HIATUS! How were you supposed to betaread it? XD But yeah, thanks for your review and Anna is sarcastic like me, yes, so that's one of the only features we both share!**

**Disclaimer:**** I own it ALL! Including Edward, Jacob and Jasper who are MINE and NOT stephenie Meyer's! **

**Chapter One**

Entering the lair

My first thought upon waking up was about why I was in an unfamiliar place; then it came flooding back to me. I sat up, and my eyes focused on the blazer hanging on the back of my door. I exhaled and ran my fingers through my hair, panicking again. It was so annoying that I had inherited the panic attacks off my mother, but I knew how not to hyperventilate. Which was something, I suppose.

I jumped out of my bed, pulled on my uniform, and literally all but ran down the stairs. I pulled my make-up bag out of one of my bags (many of which I still hadn't unpacked), and proceeded to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror while I thought about what to do with my hair, which was all over the place, as it always was when I washed it.

I put on the tiniest amount of foundation I could manage, which (thankfully) evened out my skin tone; while my hair straighteners warmed up on the window ledge, I picked up a fairly large portable mirror and balanced it in front of the window, bringing my make-up bag with me. I smudged some brown eyeliner under my eyes, and applied a little bit of brown mascara on my eyelashes while I specked a small amount of concealer on the purple-brown bags under my eyes.

Finally, the little red light extinguished itself on my 'Chi' hair straighteners, and I brushed out a small section of hair, running the straighteners down it for a few seconds until it was dead straight. Perfect. I repeated this motion no less than forty times on the remaining bunch of hair, and brushed it again quickly before switching the electricity off in the bathroom, effectively cutting out my Straighteners. I rushed back into my room to grab my little black ballerina pumps and ran downstairs with my schoolbag.

Dad had already gone to work, and he had left a Post-It note on the kitchen table, wishing me luck, and I grabbed a piece of toast on my way out of the house. It was good that Dad had given me the spare key. I set out on my way to Ulverston Victoria High School, passing some more houses that looked exactly like Dad's, and other students also walking down the hill. It took all of ten minutes for me to get there (mostly following other people), and it was then that I pulled my timetable out of my bag.

I knew better than to ask other people, so I was looking around to see if I could spot B block, when a short girl with sleek black hair skipped to my side.

"Lost?" she asked brightly. I smiled, and nodded. She grinned in response.

"That's okay, I can help you. Which room do you need to get to?" she asked, pointing to the Student Council badge on her chest. I glanced back down at my sheet.

"Erm, room one hundred, in block ten," I said, although it sounded more like a question to me. The girl didn't seem to notice, as she was too busy squealing and jumping up and down to notice.

"Are you the new girl? Anneliese Taylor?" she asked excitedly.

"It's just Anna," I corrected automatically. She didn't seem fazed, or maybe she hadn't listened.

"I'm in your new form. I'm heading towards there now," she squealed happily. I smiled at her slightly again, and she grinned in response. She linked her arm through mine easily. "My name's Jennifer Morris, by the way." she added and pulled me along to a tall building that was made out of the same rough red bricks that the houses were made out of. The staircase was surrounded by glass, so the sun that glinted through it.

"Block ten consists of IT rooms, RS rooms, music rooms and administrative rooms. It's also known as the administrative block, as most of the important teachers have offices here," she added, and grinned. I smiled back at her, and she pulled me through the double doors and along the corridor. "Oh, and by the way, with Mr. Corbett as a form tutor, you need to do your uniform," she added, pushing her tie up a little. We walked through a wooden door and into a fairly large classroom with two rows of tables, and wooden desks around the back of the room with computers. We sat down next to a group of people, most of who were looking through different books.

"Hey, Emily!" Jennifer cried, and a tall girl with long, brown hair stood up and hugged her. "You know, I haven't seen you since the six weeks. How was the rest of your holiday in Turkey?" Jennifer asked the girl, and the latter pulled away.

"It was fine, you know. Nothing remotely interesting happened at all! I'm honestly glad we're all back at school - at least things happen here." she said, raising her arms. The people around her laughed, and she smiled slightly. "So, who's your friend?" she asked, as her eyes fell on me. I glanced at Jennifer, whose face was unreadable. I sighed inaudibly, and tried to put on a confident face.

"I'm Anna Taylor; I'm new." I said, smiling at Emily. She smiled back, and another girl pulled out a chair for me. We all sat down, and Emily turned to face me.

"So, where are you from, originally?" she questioned.

"Well," I replied, "I was originally from here, Seathwaite, but I lived in Exmouth since I was five. I got here last night."

Emily nodded, curiousness plastered across her face.

"I'd have never thought that you came from Exmouth. I went on holiday there two years ago. It was very pretty. I bet it's different here for you, isn't it?" she guessed, and I nodded.

"Alright, everyone, settle down, settle down! Abby - sit down! Ryan, pull that tie up to the top, Amy, tuck your shirt in. Justin, how many times - Five. Stripes. On. That. Tie!" a voice shouted from the doorway.

"Right, people! Year nine is here! It's nice to see you all back looking healthy, and we must welcome a new student to our midst! Come up here and introduce yourself." the teacher commanded. He was only a few inches taller than me, with a large waist, and a shiny, bald spot on the top of his head. He had green eyes that twinkled, and a shirt with a dark green tank top. A dark blue tie spotted with tiny green circles was pulled all the way up to his neck. He had the distinct air as a person who really shouldn't have favourites, but did, and was strict, but fun at the same time.

I stood up reluctantly, and everyone stared at me. "My name is Anneliese, but everyone calls me Anna. I just moved from Exmouth." I said, and saw two boys put their heads together and whisper something to each other. They both grinned, and pulled away to stare at me again. I sat down, and the teacher smiled indulgently.

"Well, Anneliese, I've looked over your last school records, and may I say you will be a glad welcome to Ulverston Victoria High. I'm Mr. Corbett-" he began, but the boys who had whispered earlier tittered at some unspoken joke. "-shut up James, Lee. Anyway, as I was saying... I am Mr. Corbett. I'm an IT teacher here, and this is form nine ECE. We have a weekly Word of the Week competition, in which a member of the form thinks up an interesting word, and the person with the best word wins. Any questions?" he said, ending rather abruptly.

"Oh... No, sir." I replied, and he smiled and nodded, looking satisfied.

"Brilliant. Well then, class, the bell's about to ring, so if you'd stand up-" he began, but the rest of his words were drowned out by the sudden scraping of chairs being pushed back and then pushed back under the tables. I stood up aswell, swinging my bag over my shoulder as I pushed my chair under the desk I had sat at. Sure enough, the bell rang overhead and we filed out of the classroom.

"What do you have first, Anna?" Jennifer asked, and I checked my timetable.

"I have IT first. Room one IT two," I said, looking up to see both her and Emily smiling, both looking more than a little surprised.

"Set one? Wow," Jenni said. I shrugged, and followed them as they set off for room ninety-three. Maybe my first day wouldn't be so bad after all.

_**So thanks to **_**EnterMyHumbleAbode**_** for betareading this chapter as a one-off :) You rock! **_

_**So reviews=quicker updates! Bet you didn't know THAT did you? Help me get to 10 reviews before Friday and I'll post up chapter three with extras!**_

_**Much love,**_

**Lozz **


	4. Meeting Elena

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A/N:******I'm sorry! I know I forgot to update yesterday. Usually, I would make up an excuse, but I don't have one =( Apart from the fact that I was too busy ogling my new guitar on Thursday to send my chapter off to my stand-in Beta XD Anyways, hope you enjoy! **

_**X-Addict-Olivia-X**__** – yush, Anna's in year 10. I shall be editing it ASAP :D**_

_**Maladict**__** - Yays, spoilers lol! Also, thanks for the compliment about it being non-Twilight now! I told you it wouldn't be!**_

_Thanks to Maladict, X-Addict-Olivia-X and LeilaParamore for reviewing!_

**Disclaimer:**** As per usual, I own all my characters and my plotline! Please don't steal them! I also don't own **_**'Sabriel'**_** by Garth Nix :D**

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**Chapter Three**

Meeting Elena

Predictably, my luck didn't last. My second lesson of the day was English, which was my favourite lesson.

Fortunately, it contained two people from my form.

Unfortunately, they weren't Jennifer, Emily or any of the other people that I had spoken to.

Since I more or less guessed my way to the break time room which was in block six, I could find where room fifty two was, as it was in block five which was opposite, apparently.

Mr Westwood sat down in an empty seat next to a girl from my form, and opposite a boy that I recognised from there, too. When I sat down and looked at the girl properly, I saw that she was remarkably pale. That was her most dominant feature; she had long white blonde hair with glittering dirty blonde streaks that were obviously natural and aqua coloured eyes with patches of bottle green and sky blue in them. She was very pretty, beautiful at the least. I think she only had a little make-up on, and her hair swung across her eyes. She smiled at me.

"Hi. I'm Elena Hesse. This is Edward," she said, introducing herself and the boy with the autumn-coloured hair that was opposite me. "You're the new girl, right? Anneliese is it?" she asked, her voice politely curious.

"Yeah, but just call me Anna." I replied, automatically correcting her. She didn't seem offended though.

"We only came here in January too, so we know what it's like to be new," Elena told me, smiling in a knowing sort of way.

"Really?" I asked; her words had piqued my interest. "Where did you move from?"

"We moved from London." she replied, pushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "Our brother-" she began, but the boy she had introduced as Edward leaned forward.

"Adopted brother," he interrupted. Elena inclined her head, smiling.

"Yes, our adopted brother Robyn had an unfortunate accident involving a car with no brakes and a train." she continued, the smile falling off her face as Edward leaned back. "We thought we needed a new start. So we moved here."

It looked like she was about to say more, but then Mr Westwood came around handing out the reading books we were working on for the unit. I picked up the rather heavy book and studied its front cover. It was familiar, a yellow-ivory colour with sharp letters spelling out the title and the author's name in a small box near the bottom of the page. The bright symbol underneath the title was instantly recognisable, and it was that that made me recognise it.

"'Sabriel' by Garth Nix. Why is this so familiar?" Elena muttered to herself. I looked over at her and smiled.

"Have you read it before, too?" I asked her, and she glanced at me.

"I think so." she said, flipping it over and reading the back hurriedly. "Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly, turning the book back over, so the Charter symbol glittered in the weak yellow light of the classroom, and flailing her spare right hand around a little. "It's that one with the little white cat called Mogget and the Abhorsen-thingy!"

"Oh God, I forgot about Mogget. He always reminded me of my cat back home - I mean Exmouth." I corrected myself quickly. "I read this years ago, I've got the other two books too."

"Me too! I could never find Across The Wall, though." she agreed.

I nodded. "It's very elusive."

"Quiet, class! Quiet, everyone!" Mr Westwood called vainly, but the class did eventually stop talking. "As you can see, this term we are studying a very... Unusual book called Sabriel. There are two other books in this set, which we will eventually process aswell. Take out your exercise books and start reading the book. Take notes of anything useful, and keep a glossary." There was a flurry as everyone took their books out of their bags, and everyone started to talk again.

"Here," Elena passed me a blank exercise book, and I wrote my name and form on the front of it.

"Thanks." I replied absently, underlining my date and title. I opened the reading book and studied a small black and white map of the book's setting before turning to the prologue.

The hour long lesson passed in a blur; one second I was reading the prologue of the book we had been assigned, next the bell for lunch rang. I put Sabriel and my exercise book in my bag, as did Elena next to me, and stood up behind my chair. When Mr Westwood was sure that our uniforms were perfect, he dismissed us and Elena caught up to me after we both got out of the classroom.

"Are you going off site today?" she asked, Edward milling around behind her.

"Um... I haven't got a pass yet, so..." I answered. I didn't want to get into trouble on my first day.

"Neither has Jennifer Morris, although she'd never admit it to anyone. Coming?" she said, smiling as she inclined her head. I was just about to answer when Jenni and Emily popped up behind me.

"Hello Elena. Edward," Jennifer greeted, and then turned to me. "Coming off site? We can sneak you off the back gates." she said, as two more people materialised behind Elena and Edward. The girl had short curly red hair and green eyes and the boy was very tall and imposing with short dark brown hair.

"Um," I said, weighing my options. "Sure." I said to Jennifer, who grinned.

"Come on, then!" she called as she yanked me and Emily down the hall towards the empty back gates.

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_**Thanks for reading my shortest chapter yet! I promise that chapter four will be on time next Friday! **_

_**Tell me what you thought of this chapter by reviewing! Thanks!**_

_**Much love,**_

**Lozz**


	5. Lost Again

**A/N:**** Hey again! I'm back :D I re-wrote chapter completely, so I'm totally sorry about the major wait *ducks* Thanks for all your unwavering patience! **

_Thanks to Maladict for reviewing! I owe you an e-cookie :D_

**Disclaimer:**** I own it all :D**

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**Chapter Four**

Lost Again

How Jennifer and Emily managed to sneak me off school site I don't know and, to be honest, I didn't really want to. We went to a small chip shop so that Emily could get her lunch and then we travelled to a small wall that was in a secluded area of the local park, tall trees bending over the grass, reaching out to eachother to make a criss-cross pattern in the sky.

"Why were the Hesse's talking to you earlier anyway, Anna?" Jennifer asked me halfway through lunch.

"That Elena girl and I had read the English book before, that's all. She asked if I wanted to go offsite with them." I answered.

"Oh. Well, that's alright then... I suppose." she said reluctantly. Emily snatched a sideways glance at Jenni, and quickly looked away again. She checked her watch and stood up.

"Ten minutes to get back onsite." she informed us, and I grabbed my bag and joined her and Jenni as we walked back up to Ulverston Victoria High School.

We made it back to form precisely thirty seconds before the bell. Mr Corbett assigned me my own locker then, so I could put any books I didn't need in there. They weren't exactly lockers, though, but everyone called them 'the lockers'. In fact, the 'lockers' were drawers, but not the shallow red, yellow or blue shallow plastic drawers that you had in the corners of your classrooms at primary schools. These drawers were the giant ones that are in a filing cabinets. Each 'locker' had the person's name, form and student number on it, and plenty of stickers plastered all over every other available space. There was a little bit of grey metal where the key hole was. My locker had been stripped of stickers.

"You'll need to go to Mrs Kindell to get your student number, and to get a few of your forms signed, and to get your offsite pass signed." Mr Corbett informed me, handing me an out-of-class pass, more commonly known as an OOC pass. It read:

OUT OF CLASS PASS

Anneliese Taylor 9CTE is allowed out of class

to go to Mrs Kindell's office to hand in letter.

Emily offered to come with me to Mrs Kindell's office, as I didn't know where it was. On the way out of block ten, we passed two prefects who asked to see our OOC passes. At first, they had a little trouble understanding Mr Corbett's handwriting, but let us past when Emily told them that we were going to our head of year's office.

"They always let you past once you mention Kindell." she shared wisely, and I laughed a bit.

Mrs Kindell's office was on the other side of the school, in block five. It was a tiny room with barely any room in it. In one corner stood a small wooden desk, with a filing cabinet not unlike the lockers in the other corner.

"Yes?" she asked as we walked into the office.

"I'm here to sort out my forms," I answered, while Emily stood in the doorway unsurely.

"Ah, yes..." she said, pulling out a pad of paper and a pen, which she clicked on the desk. "Name?" she asked, looking at me expectantly.

"Anneliese Taylor." I answered.

"Any preferred name for the registers?" she asked, scribbling like mad.

"Anna."

"Lovely. Parent forms, offsite pass?" she asked, holding her hand without looking as I placed the papers into said hand. She scanned through the parent forms, and then quickly signed my offsite pass. "Head over to the front office and grab your student information pack and forms for you to fill in about grades and such. Just drop them at the office tomorrow. Here's your offsite pass and out of class pass." she said, dismissing us as she handed me two little slips of blue paper.

The lady in the office handed me two thick booklets, and told me that form time was halfway over. I flicked through the student information pack (better known as a 'sip' amongst the students of UVHS) and found a map of the school, a spare timetable, a discount for a homework diary and another discount for a UVHS stationery set, although Emily said that no-one used the school pens and pencils.

As we walked back to block ten, we passed a girl from our form who Emily introduced as Alicciah Dansen, junior prefect.

"Hello, Anneliese. Welcome to UVHS, I'm sure you'll have a great time here. Sorry, Emily, but I've got to run. Got papers for a sixth former that's just been put in isolation. Bye!" Alicciah called back to us as she hurried towards the office.

"She's the most popular person in our year," Emily explained when we pushed open the double doors of block ten. "Everyone vies for her attention, but she's a great friend of Jenni's through student council. She's lovely, really, and that's why everyone likes her."

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak my mind. In my opinion, Alicciah seemed like a nasty girl who knew how pretty and popular she was, and pushed lesser girls around. She appeared as the stereotypical queen bee, who everyone rallies about in a 'ooh-look-at-her' way.

When we took our seats a few minutes later, Jenni handed me a small silver key that I could use to open my locker. Seeing as we had nothing better to do, we talked about anything and everything: boys, school and homework. Well, Emily and Jennifer talked; I just sat there next to them and listened in on their conversations. The bell rang at ten to two for afternoon break, and we gathered our things and made our way towards the yard. I had Religious Studies next in room ninety-two, somewhere in block nine. I considered asking Em or Jenni to show me where it was, but I looked in my student information pack instead, seeing that it was right next to the block where our form room was.

Quite a few kids stared at me during afternoon break, knowing that I was the new girl. I was very conscious of these stares, and tried to ignore them.

Luckily, I could find my way from the yard to block ten, and could figure out how to get from there to block nine. I wasn't looking forward to RS that much, as I wasn't that interested in religion to begin with. But my teacher, Miss Unwin, was a lovely woman. She was tall with dull blonde hair styled into a fashionable bob. Her blue eyes glittered as she pointed to pictures of Jesus on the cross, ecstatic with the class' attention.

The lesson was boring, but I paid attention, taking notes in my exercise book. Alicciah met me outside the room and walked me to my history classroom.

"That has got to be the most boring lesson I've ever gone to. I should've skipped it." I joked. Alicciah glared at me.

"This is your first day here at Ulverston Victoria High School, Anneliese! How can you say that?" she exclaimed in a sharp voice, and then went into a lecture about how I should pay attention in class. I put my hands up.

"God, Alicciah, no need for a lecture! I was only joking. And my name is Anna, not Anneliese." I corrected her. From the look on her face, nobody had really stood up to her before. I chose to ignore this and carried on walking to history.

Mr Guy, my geography teacher, had a bald head and crinkly green eyes. He was quite nice, and joked about a lot of things. I had to sit next to Edward, the boy who had sat next to Elena in English; he seemed pretty antisocial, and didn't speak to me all lesson. Mr Guy said that it was lucky I'd got there when I did, because they were just starting a new module all about volcanoes. I hadn't learned about it at my old school, but I did know a fair bit about it from my Uncle. Every time he asked questions, I put my hand up and answered them. My classmates all looked at me in surprise, but Edward instead stared at me with a mixture of amusement and awe in his dark eyes. I avoided his gaze and instead focused on doing the set work.

When the bell rang at half past three, I wanted to just rush out of the room and go home, but I knew that I would have to ask someone for directions. I didn't know anybody in the class... Except for Edward, but I didn't really want to ask him. In the end though, I realised I had no choice, and turned to face him.

"Hi. I'm kind of new. Do you know the way to the bus stop?" I asked, glad my voice was more confident than I felt. He smiled fleetingly before replying.

"I'm heading for the front gates myself, so you can walk with my family and I. if you want to, that is." I nodded thankfully, and we grabbed our bags. We walked in silence for a few minutes, before Edward started talking to me.

"You came from Devon, yeah? Which was your favourite lesson down there?" he asked unexpectedly.

Flustered, I said the first subject that popped into my head. "English." He nodded, as though my answer had confirmed some weird thought, and he proceeded to ask me all about my family. I told him as little as I could, not really wanting to talk about how much I missed mom. We met Elena, a girl who was very pale with short red hair, and a boy who had short black hair and brown eyes.

Hey, Anna!" Elena cried. "I didn't know you'd be coming with us! This is Alexa, and this is John Mullen-" she began, introducing the red haired girl as Alexa.

"But when I was adopted, I dropped the 'John', kept the Mullen and added on the Hesse. So just call me Mullen." he cut in, grinning at me. I smiled and nodded politely, not sure what to say.

"Don't interrupt me! Anyway, where were you going?" Elena chastised him.

"I'm trying to find the Bus stop." I answered.

"Brilliant. We're walking. The bus stop is just down there." Alexa pointed down the road to a small blue bus shelter a little way. I glanced at it and then turned to the others.

"Thanks for all your help, guys. You don't know how weird it is being new." I paused. "Well, you do, but you know." They laughed and smiled.

"See you tomorrow, Anna!"

"Bye Anna!"

I walked down to he bus stop grinning to myself; and I had thought that coming here would be awful and that I wouldn't make any friends at all? I didn't know how someone could be so wrong.

Just as I got to the other side of the road, the bus I needed to catch pulled up. I clambered on board, paid my fee and found an unoccupied seat near the front. There was a large group of school kids at the back of the bus that were making a lot of noise, music playing at a deafening volume and shouting to eachother about 'Lucy and Daniel', whoever the hell they were.

I pulled my phone and my earphones out of an inside pocket in my blazer, plugged the white wire into the phone and scrolled through my files until I found my music. I selected the latest song in the charts and turned the volume up.

I was halfway through the fifth song when I discovered that I'd already missed my stop. I got off outside a small bank in the middle of the town with another girl. She was quite small with long brown hair and really big brown eyes. She had a pink spotty umbrella on her arm and a massive black sequined bag on her shoulder. She told me her name was Allyana Graves and she was in our year; she gave me directions back to my street and I thanked her, then set off the way she had pointed out.

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_**A/N:**** Thanks for reading! You know, reviews are awesome and they make me very, very happy. So review pleases!**_


	6. An Unwelcome Guest

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**A/N:**** I'm really sorry about the massive wait between chapters! I'm totally hoping to reduce waiting time for you guys! Life's been getting in the way, and my plot bunnies have all hopped away sadly, so I'm really stuck at the end of chapter 16. Depressing, I know. But here is chapter 5! Plus, I'm really sorry - formatting on FanFiction has really dodged me up lately, so my chapter names and such aren't aligning properly; bare with me and it'll work next chapter!**

**Disclaimer:**** I own all my characters and my ideas, but I don't own **_**Pepsi**_** or **_**Much Ado About Nothing**_** by Shakespeare (obviously).**

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I got home ten minutes later to find the house empty. I locked the door behind me and walked into the kitchen to put some oven chips in the oven and find something to go with them, then poured some Pepsi into a glass. I grabbed my drink and walked into the living room and sat down on one of the brown and cream sofas. Pawing through my school bag, I pulled out my sketch pad for art and my pencil, eraser and sharpener and started to draw. To begin with, there was just two circles which soon turned into two eyes. There was also a nose and a mouth taking shape aswell, much better that what I had drawn before. When I was happy with the shading and the lighting of my picture, I put in long wavy pencil lines around the top of the head that developed into hair. When I was finished, I added the date at the top of the page and blew off the squiggly little eraser marks. I looked at the paper for a few minutes, trying to think of who the picture reminded me of. I glanced up at the clock and hurried into the kitchen and threw a steak and mushroom pie into the oven, turned the oven chips over with a fish slice, and went back into the lounge.

I took a sip of my Pepsi and turned the page over and put my pencil to the paper again. I drew a long, vertical squiggly line and then another one that ran parallel to it and finished it with a forward-slash shaped line . I moved back to the top of the two lines and drew an oval and then elongated semi-circles to it, with a few drooping downwards. I shaded in the petals of the flower near to the centre to make it look like shade and grabbed a few coloured pencils out of my pencil case and coloured in the flower slowly and carefully. I put the date at the top of the page again and a thought struck me - was I allowed to be doodling in my art book? More importantly, when was my art lesson? I dived into my bag and pulled out my schedule and checked - Friday. Relief washed over me. I had almost a week to buy a new sketch pad.

Just as I was putting my homework diary away, the front door opened and closed and dad walked into the room.

"Hey, Anna. Did you have a good first day?" he asked, dropping his work bag down onto the chair.

I looked up briefly, pulling my sketchpad back towards me. "Yeah, it was great. I've made a few friends already."

"Brilliant," he replied while sinking into the other sofa. "What's that you're doing?"

"Just drawing," I showed him the person I had drawn and he raised his eyebrows.

"Wow, that's amazing. How long did that take you?"

"About twenty minutes, I think." I answered, feeling a little happy. I had always loved art but nobody had ever told me I was good at it.

"Well, it's really quite good."

I did a few little doodles - squares within squares, overlapping circles - and then went to put my things on the floor when the phone rang. Dad answered it.

"Hello? Yes, this is the Taylor residence. Anna?" He shot me a look. "Yeah, she's right here." he handed me the phone.

"Who is it?" I mouthed at him. He shrugged, so I put the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Anna?" the voice from the other end answered. I grinned; I recognised that voice.

"Hey, Jasper! How are you?" I replied happily. Dad turned the volume on the TV up.

"I'm great, thanks. But what about you? I heard that your parents had an argument when you got up there yesterday."

"How did you know that?"

"I overheard your mom telling mine."

I grinned again. "Has anybody ever told you that if you listen into other people's conversations you might hear something you might not like?"

"Of course! But when has that ever stopped me?" he replied. I laughed.

"Very true that. Very true." There was a pause and then he spoke again.

"I might be coming to visit you soon."

"Really?" I asked happily. It would be brilliant if Jasper could make it up here for a while, just a little reminder of my life in Exmouth.

"Yeah. I'm not all too sure when, though. It might not be for months and months, but mom's promised."

"Wow. It'd be a stretch, but it would be really nice to see my old friends again. You know, my _best friends_." I answered, an emphasis on the last two words. I could literally hear his smile through the phone. Then a female voice sounded from his end of the phone call and I recognised it to be his mom.

"Sorry, Anna. I've got to go. It was really nice to talk to you again, though." he said a second later.

"Okay. Thanks for calling, Jasper. See you soon?"

"Sure. Bye,"

"Bye." The line went dead and I handed the phone back to Dad.

"So," he asked. "Who was that?"

I shrugged. "Just a friend from Exmouth." I stood up and walked into the kitchen, grabbing some plates and pulling the trays out of the oven. I shuffled some chips onto each plate and then placed a slice each of pie beside the chips. I carried each plate into the living room while dad stood up and grabbed some cutlery, salt, pepper and vinegar. Sprinkling on a small amount of salt and vinegar, I stared at my masterpiece. _'__Not bad,__'_ I thought sarcastically. _'__Not bad at all, really.__'_

After we had finished eating tea, dad washed up while I grabbed a tea towel and dried up the plates and cutlery. I put my sketch pad into my bag along with my pencil case, and went upstairs to my room. As I began to open the door, I heard light footsteps on my carpet and the window creak and then slam shut. I froze, my hand still on the doorknob, and picked up a golf club that was at the top of the stairs and quietly opened the door. Once inside my room, I quickly flicked on the light and brandished the golf club in front of me. I glanced around, expecting to see someone jumping at me from the shadowy corners of the room, but no-one was there. Then a white fluttering in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I walked over to the window. It was open, just a little, and the white nets and curtains were waving in the wind. I opened the window wider and stepped up onto the window ledge. Carefully, I leaned my head out of the open window and looked out onto the back garden. It was very dark but in the thick shadows underneath the tree at the far end of the garden there seemed to be a man-like silhouette that was a denser black than the other shadows. As soon as I saw it, the darker shadow stepped back and bled into the night and was gone. I closed the window sharply and drew the curtains then sank onto my bed. My hands were shaking as I realised that the person who had been in my room hadn't been taking anything. But, I argued with myself, what else would someone break into a house for? I put it out of my head and instead decided that if he or she decided to come, back I would be waiting to wallop them over the head with a golf club. Then I laughed at how ridiculous I sounded; if I was scared stiff and hadn't even seen anyone in my room, how bad would I be if I _did_ see someone in my room?

I pushed that thought out of my head too and grabbed a book off my bookshelf and started to read it. The words printed on the pages didn't really sink in, so I turned the book over and read the title: _Much Ado About Nothing _by Shakespeare. I snorted at the book. How ironic, in light of recent events. I put the book down on my bedside table and switched on the lamp that was beside me, walking over to the main light switch and turning that off so that a faint glow illuminated the lavender walls softly. I pulled my timetable out of my bag and read what lessons I had tomorrow: maths, history, art and Technology. I sighed. Maths was about my worst subject after PE, and I was nearly bottom in that. History was boring, but I did alright in it and art - well, let's just say I had my moments. I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing in Tech, so I reigned in my judgement of that subject at least. I pulled out my exercise books that I wouldn't need for the next day and pushed my timetable and pencil case back into it. I sat on my bed for longer than I could remember, just staring at the window with the golf club by my side just in case the person came back. But they never did, predictably, so in the end I just brushed my teeth, climbed into my pyjamas and then climbed into bed. I hoped that tomorrow night would be better than tonight when I turned off my bedside lamp at ten o'clock.

When I woke up the next morning, my hand was still curled around the golf club that I had kept by me all last night just in case. I pulled on my school uniform and brushed my hair into a small bun at the back of my head and dragged myself into my bathroom.

The same as yesterday morning, I put on a little foundation and concealer, a tiny amount of eyeliner and mascara and then grabbed my concealer and shoved it into an inside pocket in my blazer. I rooted around in my bag and finally found my new offsite pass, which also went into the pocket. Then I pulled out the forms that I had to fill out and panicked. I was supposed to have filled this in last night. I checked the time from my alarm clock and calculated that I had about 10 minutes to fill it out. I set the alarm to go off at twenty past eight and sat down on my bed, grabbed a pen and gazed at the first question on the paper:

1) What is the last level you achieved in your subjects?

I sighed and wrote out the answers to each question and, when I had finished, I glanced at the alarm clock countdown. I still had three minutes to go before the bell went off so I pushed the file into my bag and pulled on my shoes. I hurried downstairs and grabbed my spare key and rushed out of the door. I hoisted my bag higher up onto my shoulder as I locked the door and started the now familiar walk to Ulverston Victoria High School.

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_**So I know, this story sucks . Please make my review count go up, because you guys keep me writing!**_


	7. Promises, Promises

**A/N:**** So I'm back! Sorry for the massive wait, guys! I've had loads of exams, concerts and multiple wrimos . Sorry! But here's chapter 6. I've just written up to the end of chapter 21, so I should be able to post up more soon hopefully **

**Disclaimer:**** I own all my stuff. If you recognise it, it's purely coincidental! Promise!**

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**Chapter Six**

**Promises, Promises**

I got to school about five minutes before the bell rang. I couldn't see Jennifer or Emily or anybody I knew around me, so I pulled my student information pack out of my bag and found out where I was and how to get to block ten. I discovered that I was right by block nine and that block ten was right behind it, so I made my way around the back of the bricked building. I pushed through the big glass double doors and then walked down the corridor and stopped outside the door to my form room. I paused to check the number on the smooth wooden surround of the door, then opened it and stepped inside.

There were seven people already inside the room, including Jennifer, Emily and Oliver. The other four people were Elena, Edward, Alexa and Mullen. Elena was talking animatedly with Alexa, who seemed to be talking a little more calmly back to her. Mullen was listening to music and Edward seemed to be doing nothing at all. He was just sitting there, staring at the opposite wall. Elena leaned over and said something to him and he jerked his head back and replied shortly.

"Anna!" came Jennifer's voice, making me jump. I had been watching the Hesses so intently that I had forgotten there were other people in the room. Elena looked up and grinned at me. She waved and I smiled back. I walked over to Jennifer and Emily and sat next to them.

"Morning, Anna." Emily greeted, moving her chair over a little so I could pull mine out beside her. I sat down and dumped my bag on the table.

"Hey, Emily. How are you?" I asked, shrugging off my blazer and putting it on the back of my chair.

"I'm okay. You?" she replied.

"Oh, I'm good," I told her. Then Jennifer started a conversation about something and my mind wandered. I thought back to the previous night and to the person who I had thought had been in my room. At the time, I had been certain that there was a figure in there and then someone in the garden, but now I thought about it, I realised that it seemed far-fetched and more than a little silly. I was pulled back into reality when Mr Corbett strode into the classroom.

"Good morning, class!" he announced to everyone as the rest of the form filed through the door. "Seats, please, and sort out your uniforms! Now, I'm hoping that you've all been working on that smile for the form board - yes, Jennifer, we are taking the class photo today. You're being called down to the Sports Hall at half past two, so just make sure you all remember and get down there!

"Now, onto this work..."

"So, what do you think about that, Anna?" I jerked out of my stupor and looked blankly at Mr Ferries.

"Hmm?" I replied blankly. How eloquent of me.

"I asked you what you thought about the after effects of the first world war; was Hitler unreasonable with his efforts to win over Germany?" Mr Ferries reiterated. I took a deep breath and released the same answer from two years ago when I'd first covered the topic.

"I suppose to us he _was_ unreasonable, yes, but you could also say the same about Malcolm X and other various historical leaders. In his mind, he thought he was reasonable, that he was fighting for a reason, albeit a reason that seemed, and still seems, sick and twisted to us." I explained. The class turned around in their seats and gawped at me; Mr Ferries raised a greying eyebrow at me in surprise.

"Well," he said after a few minutes of stunned silence. "that is a rather well thought out answer, Anneliese. Thank you for your contribution. So, anyway, do you think we could deduce that the hyperinflation added to the Nazi party's popularity, Ryan? Yes? That's a very good answer.

"So the questions are on the board. Please write the date and the title, 'the Nazi party: 1920's' and don't forget to underline, otherwise everything looks messy! The books are there to help you answer anything you're stuck on, pages twenty-six and twenty-seven." He looked at us expectantly. When nobody did anything, he clapped his hands together. "Well, off you go!" Sighing, I opened my exercise book to a new page, wrote the date and title, and glanced at the board to see the question: 'In your opinion, was Hitler wise to trust the SA?'

This was all frightfully boring. I'd done it all before, a million times before, and the answers were etched into my memory. I didn't even have to think about the answers anymore.

That was yet another reason that I hadn't wanted to leave Exmouth, yet another reason I had relayed to my mother, my father _and_ the courts: I'd have to cover stuff I'd already done and I might miss out whole topics because the school's curriculums were different. But would they listen?

Obviously not, seeing as I was sitting in a classroom answering a bunch of questions that were way too easy, not to mention way too boring.

So I finished the class work in less time than I anticipated, looking around and noticing that everyone else was still working. Well, not everyone - Edward and Elena were sat in the corner, talking quietly, their pages filled with neat print that just looked like black lines from where I was sat. I wondered if they had already covered this subject too, because Elena was flipping through the book in front of her with a rather amused look on her face, which I could only assume meant that there were other things that she already knew in the pages of print. Edward wore a bored expression and stared at the front of the classroom, occasionally opening his mouth to say something to Elena.

His eyes lifted and he glanced up at me. I smiled, which he ignored, and he turned to Elena and said something to her. She laughed at him and stood up.

After weaving through the rows of desks, she finally came to a stop at the end of my table. Pretending to be sharpening a pencil, she grinned at me.

"Done aswell?" she asked over the chatter of my classmates.

I snorted. "Of course. What could be easier than this?"

"The civil war," she shrugged. I giggled and she joined in. "So it's my birthday on the twentieth, and we're throwing a bit of a party - with a few friends, of course - and we'd love you to come." She paused, glanced over at Edward, and sunk into the seat next to me. "What do you think?"

"There aren't going to be any mad relatives that like to start fights, are there?" I asked teasingly.

"No, I don't think so." Elena replied in a mock serious voice. Her aqua eyes kept flickering to Edward.

"Well, okay then. As long as it isn't too much trouble for you, I'd love to come." I answered, and her face lit up, as in _seriously _lit up, like someone had thrown a power switch behind her skin and a light bulb had flickered into life.

"Oh my gosh, it's going to be amazing!" she semi squealed, throwing her arms around my neck. I laughed at her over the top behaviour, making it seem like I dealt with this every day, when inside I was feeling all warm and fuzzy.

I had met a really great friend.

And she wasn't a crazy psychopath who liked to wear violet contact lenses and who was constantly with siblings as though they were attached at the hip.

"Okay, class, the bell's going to go any minute now, so please leave your books on your desks and pack away." Mr Ferries called from the front of the classroom, watching his class with eyes like a hawk's, ready to swoop down on its prey.

Elena released me, her eyes all lit up and sparkly. She threw me a delighted smile and walked back to her brother, who instantly began talking to her. Her wild hand gestures made me think that she was telling him about inviting me to her party; that thought was confirmed when Edward glanced back at me. He then turned back to her and I heard what he said clearly, although I was across the room from him.

"You have got to be kidding me."

The smile slid off my face and landed in a pile of goo at my feet. Shocked and stung by his hateful words, I turned my back on them and pulled my coat on angrily.

"Why did you invite _her_? We shouldn't be hanging out with her!"

I was the first out of the classroom.

"Anna, wait!" Her voice sounded from around the corner.

I carried on walking. I _could not _deal with her after what I'd heard Edward say. I just couldn't.

"Anna, come on!" her voice exclaimed, closer now, and a hand pulled on my shoulder, turning me towards her. She took one look at my face and knew I'd heard. She probably already knew though, judging by the fact that she'd raced to catch up with me.

"What do you want?" I asked her, trying to keep the coldness out of my tone. I wasn't angry at her, after all.

"Look, I'm sorry about what Edward said in the classroom. I know you heard, and he was way out of line, and I told him so as soon as he said it." she said quickly, the words merging.

"Why are you apologising? It wasn't _your_ fault."

"I know that, but he's my brother, and he can be nasty sometimes."

"Sometimes? He doesn't like me, I get that, but there's no need for him to be so outright about it."

"He does like you, that's the problem. Edward's used to not liking anyone but us, anyone but his family. It's confusing him, Anna, and he's saying the wrong things. Just give me a few weeks, alright? He'll come around, I promise." Her tone rang with finality and also a hint of pleading and , although I'd only known her for a few days, I could hear the slight off note in her voice that suggested a lie. Edward didn't like me. That much I knew.

"Fine, okay, whatever." I sighed, and her face flooded with relief.

"He'll come around," she repeated, and then smiled. "I'd best get going; Alexa and the others will be wondering where I've gotten to. See you later, Anna." she added in a more light-hearted voice, and skipped away from me. Sighing again, I turned back around and made my way to where Jenni and Emily said they'd wait for me. A break couldn't come soon enough, in my opinion.

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**As usual, please review and tell me if you liked it/disliked it/found a mistake :)**

**Lauren **


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